Mississippi State held its second bowl practice on Saturday morning opening things up for the fans and media alike.

The Bulldogs used Friday and Saturday and will continue to work with some of the younger players next week in pivotal roles before beginning prep work on Dec. 19 for Wake Forest and the Music City Bowl.

"This is an opportunity for us to get young players reps," said MSU head coach Dan Mullen. "This whole first week is going back to fundamentals. Our first two days is kind of warming them up and getting back into things and get more into an instillation plan Monday."

One players who got plenty of reps during Saturday's practice was redshirt freshman running back Nick Griffin. Griffin played in five games this fall after coming back from a spring knee injury. He carried 16 times for 108 yards and one touchdown in limited action.

"It's huge because we have two senior tailbacks graduating so (Griffin)'s going to become more of a feature back next year," Mullen said. "It really allows him to step into that (first string) huddle and be that feature back."

Another redshirt freshman assuming more of a role on the defensive side of the ball is safety Jay Hughes. With the season-ending Achilles injury to Nickoe Whitley during the Alabama game, Hughes impact has become more immediate.